Farming of Monmouthshire. 
275 
Money payment, piecework, and the allotment, as mucli as pos- 
sible, of work to each man, is the true secret of getting work well 
and cheaply done, and of producing a thrifty and contented set 
of labourers. 
In conclusion, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, I must 
express our sense of the great kindness and hospitality whicli we 
experienced on both occasions of our visits of inspection, and 
I shall long remember the pleasant days we spent, and some 
of the instructive lessons which I learnt, in the Oxford Pri/e- 
Farm district in the year 1870. 
H. W. Keaiiy. 
Bridgnorth, August 1st., 1870. 
We subscribe to the foregoing descriptions of competing farms. 
T. Gibbons. 
W. Tore. 
XIV. — The Farming of Monmouthshire. By W. FOTHEEGILL. 
Monmouthshire, though now an English county, partakes so 
much of both England and Wales, that it may justly be con- 
sidered the link between them, as it unites their language, their 
manners, and their customs. Even as far as the principal town 
of Monmouth, which is situated in the interior of the county, 
houses and lands are still known by their ancient Celtic names ; 
and the traveller will find many persons who, although dwelling 
by the fruitful banks of the Monnow, still delight to converse 
in the vernacular, whilst the all-conquering English tongue has 
penetrated to the very heart of the mountain region ; and even 
on the Bedwas and the Bedwellty heights it is now difficult to find 
one who can truthfully say " Dim Saesonog " — no English — when 
addressed by an Englishman. 
Physical Features. 
The county is about 28 miles at its greatest length, which is 
from the Black Mountains on the north to the river Rhymney on 
the south ; and its greatest breadth, from the Rhymney Iron Works 
on the west to Hadnock Wood on the east, is about 34 miles. 
The circumference may be taken at 130 miles, containing an area 
of about 496 square miles, or something more than 317,440 acres, 
divided into 125 parishes. 
With the exception of about 70,000 acres on the coast line, 20 
miles in length from the Wye to the Rhymney, and in the valleys 
of the rivers, the county is generally hilly and rugged ; indeed, 
a full fourth of its extent may be taken as mountain, with an 
elevation of nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea ; and this 
